The present invention relates to generator devices for generating radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic radiation, and more particularly to a compact yet tunable RF generator.
A small (card-level) source of RF electromagnetic radiation is required for many applications, such as portable test sets for sensitive (-100 dBm) RF systems. The main requirements of the source or generator are compactness and tunability. High power levels are not required. It is desired that these test sets be able to provide low level radiation tunable from 2 GHz through several tens of GHz., e.g., 40 GHz.
Existing commercially available solid state RF sources are compact, but they do not have the requisite tunability. Free electron masers have the tunability, but not the requisite compactness. Other RF sources such as magnetrons have neither the required compactness nor tunability.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a compact RF generator capable of providing low level RF radiation and which is tunable over a large frequency range.